posted at 5:01 pm on February 17, 2014 by Allahpundit

They’ve now had 90 minutes of screen time since the cliffhanger at the prison to explain what happened to the group. Here’s what we’ve learned. In 90 minutes.

1. Carl’s going through puberty.
2. Everyone’s alive, including Carol.
3. There’ll be some new characters next week, if you’re good.

Ninety minutes well spent. Compare the amount of entertainment packed into the same timeframe for an episode of “Sherlock,” say, to what you’ve gotten over the past two weeks from TWD. (I know, it’s easy to be efficient when your season lasts three episodes.) Even last night’s big set piece, the assault on the bus by Maggie, Sasha, and Bob, was the same gimmick they used for Sophia’s reveal at the end of season two. All the zombies are dispatched except one, who’s growling in the shadows. The suspense mounts: Is the mystery zombie someone we know? Not this time. Apparently the Glenn/Maggie love story is too tender, too epic, to end so soon.

I’m not even that interested in Lizzie the bad seed. You knew she wasn’t going to smother Judith. She will, in all likelihood, end up murdering a major character in cold blood, but it won’t be one of the writers’ designated indispensables like Rick or Daryl or even Maggie. It’ll be Tyreese, a mid-major, or Carol. Let’s get on with it. I’m mostly interested in seeing how the show deals with Lizzie once the rest of the gang finds out. Post-apocalyptic justice calls for summary execution of murderers. There’s no way they’re going to do that to a little girl on TV. Are they?

Now, I need your feedback (and by “you” I mean fans of the comics). The Abraham Ford character isn’t just another variation of the crazed warlord figure that populates this genre, is he? I ask because, from Captain Rhodes in “Day of the Dead” to Major West in “28 Days Later,” you can pretty much guess how things are going to go once men in fatigues show up during the zombie apocalypse. After two seasons of the Governor, I feel like we’ve covered our brutal-megalomaniac bases for awhile. Is that what’s coming next?

Blowback

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But they always have a weekend marathon about once every two months and start from the beginning. That’s how I got into it. I was bored one afternoon and got into it flipping channels. Season one was over and it was halfway into season 2.

This episode was a little “meh”. Tyrese made some improvement but if he doesn’t come a long way in the next few episodes, it’s time to frag his butt off the show. The baby is walker bait so they’d better get to this Terminus place fast. Daryl looks like he’s shut down for now, so much for one of the bright spots for now.

I stopped watching this about 5 minutes into episode 4.4 and I won’t be going back. I realized I no longer care about the characters and what happens to them. I can’t explain the popularity of this show with alternatives like House of Cards, Mad Men, etc.

I’m also having to look away from the screen every time there’s a Walker-Attack-Retaliation. The timing break in the Series — cessation of the violence involved visually — let me return to more normal and I’m finding the grotesque basis for this entire Series (what I’d describe as “wacking zombies with extreme brutality”) to be intolerable as ‘entertainment’. I have to look away when the Walkers get bashed and/or engage in their Zombie-gorging on others.

So I’m now wondering what the point of this Series is about other than to resolve the *if* question about the remaining survivors making it through the Zombie Apocalypse and things returning to “normal” if at all possible. I’ve seen more than enough of the grotesque scenes.

And don’t we already KNOW that the girl-child is a psycho-killer? I think the point’s been made already that she’s insane and bent on enjoying the taking of life and the scene in last night’s Episode where she nearly smothers the child, Judith, was just too much.

We know, we KNOW already, enough, she’s a psycho-killer, enough with trying to make dead-bunnies-dead-babies “funny”.

The Talking Dead episode that followed last night’s Walking Dead episode, where the host handed out stuffed bunnies to others, wasn’t funny. Not even close to cute.

The Series (and the followup Talkers) has now gotten into the Nurturing Psychotics stage. If not long ago…

Daryl looks like he’s shut down for now, so much for one of the bright spots for now.

jnelchef on February 17, 2014 at 5:11 PM

FINALLY, Daryl’s having a more normal reaction to conditions. Daryl “shutting down” is him maintaining sanity, it’s the ones who don’t reach that mental place that are the ones to worry about, like Carol, for one.

It was an interesting trick for one group (Beth and Daryl) to come on an event after the attack to then flask back to the attack with Tyrese and the kids. I knew Tyrese had Judith with the girls. At the end I thought that Glenn and Tara would come on the bus full of walkers and shot the one that fell on the Glenn lookalike until they closed the door. Have them come out the front door on the bus would have prevented the rush. They will take the 6 episodes left in the season building until the next season with nothing much happening except character development. It still has only been hours after the attack when they show Glenn alive at the prison.

In the comic Abraham and his whole team are good guys on Rick’s team until a guy even worse than the governor shows up and they are killed.

What happened last night? Hmm.. Well, the season finale of Burn Notice finally made it to Netflix (I had seen them all until I cancelled my cable TV just before the final episode). So, I watched about 5 minutes of the finale before finding it too absurd to continue watching … much like Ed’s recent posts.

The Abraham Ford character isn’t just another variation of the crazed warlord figure that populates this genre, is he?

Nope. In the comics he’s a good guy, former army sergeant, good survival skills, ends up being Rick’s right hand guy after Shane and Tyrese are killed off. Brutal backstory in the comics. He’s an interesting character, but I don’t think he’ll supplant Daryl in the series.

In the comic Abraham and his whole team are good guys on Rick’s team until a guy even worse than the governor shows up and they are killed.

tjexcite on February 17, 2014 at 5:27 PM

I don’t know how anyone could be worse than the governor. Rick should have cut the head off that snake with his Python during ‘negotiations’.

I’m no military expert, but after he declined Rick’s map AND came out with that story of having to ‘take orders from a superior half his age with an IQ to match’, I would have realized I was dealing with a General Bethlehem.

Did Herchel’s daughter the one whose nae after 5 seasons I still forget revert to her New Zealand tongue when she was reading her lines? Did they forget to cut this out? did I miss this. The scene by the bus.

Did Herchel’s daughter the one whose nae after 5 seasons I still forget revert to her New Zealand tongue when she was reading her lines? Did they forget to cut this out? did I miss this. The scene by the bus.

Concerning Daryl, 1. Who lights a fire out in the open, at night, in the zombie apocalypse? Lighting a fire is just asking for trouble. As an aside, if in a zombie apocalypse it seems a sling hammock and pole climbing spikes should be standard issue for any bugout bag. 2. Who goes “tracking” in the middle of the night in the zombie apocalypse? Again, asking for trouble.

Don’t even get me started on Rick and Tyreese. This soap opera is about as probable as “All My Kids”, but like every daytime soap opera viewer, I continue to watch. What is wrong with me?

Carol didn’t kill Tyreese’s wife, Lizzie did, and Carol was just covering for her when she admitted it was herself.

It’s more entertaining with all of them in the wind, instead of trying to fortify a chain link fence from a herd of Z’s that could be easily duped to go somewhere else. It’s like the Z’s have a chance to make some real gains in the body count now, close the gap and make a game of it.

I don’t buy the hours after the attack bit. Wasn’t Rick and Carl on the road more than a day? Also Beth and Daryl were sitting at a camp fire. I think it’s been at least a couple of days and maybe the Glen bit was a flash back kind of thing showing what happen to him. Maybe the whole two episodes was nothing more than unconnected bits at different times showing highlights of what happen to the characters. It would explain the strange bunny killing after then dead bunnies were seen and the girl in the cage at the prison.

The creep has allll the reality of knowledge of his own deeds he or anyone requires as “proof”. Any here who indulge him are not doing him any favors.

Lourdes on February 17, 2014 at 5:45 PM

I identified and denigrated a liar on the internet who, without any relationship with me, took it upon himself to aggressively denigrate me by my actual identity, about my own work. His activities continued without explanation or cause, indicting intentional actions to damage, defame, harass and stalk me.

Maybe the whole two episodes was nothing more than unconnected bits at different times showing highlights of what happen to the characters. It would explain the strange bunny killing after then dead bunnies were seen and the girl in the cage at the prison.

Lucy43 on February 17, 2014 at 5:41 PM

The episode was in reverse chronological order.

Daryl and Beth came across the walkers and the grapes. Then it switched to Tyrese and the girls, which happened before the Daryl/Beth segment, which explains the grapes, the walkers on the train tracks, etc. The segment with Maggie and Sasha happened before the Tyrese bit, and the Glenn segment happened first.

I think you really had to pay attention to pick up on the timing though. My girlfriend had no idea what was going on until I explained it to her…

Post-apocalyptic justice calls for summary execution of murderers. There’s no way they’re going to do that to a little girl on TV. Are they?

Actually, first scene of the series, when Rick is searching for gas, and the little girl (granted she’s a zombie) comes after him and he shoots her between the eyes. I said to myself “Whoa!” I hadn’t seen anything remotely like that on TV.

Also, Sophia, when she comes out of the barn.

I have never watced this show, are the old episodes available online?

OmahaConservative on February 17, 2014 at 5:03 PM

They are on streaming Netflix.

besser tot als rot on February 17, 2014 at 5:31 PM

Also on Amazon Prime – no commercials but you have to pay for each episode.

So say you w/o offering proof. The burden of proof is on you since you made the gross accusations here at HA. You can say ‘cozmo knows what he did to me’ all day long, but w/o proof it is meaningless, and your track record here is less than stellar…

I’m losing interest because I’d like them to be more responsible for their survival. After all they’ve been through they should have had a fallback plan. Even if they felt secure after driving the Governor and his folks off at the end of Season 3, they should’ve planned for other psychos who will inevitably appear. They should have had a couple of plans — a spot where they’d all regroup if separated (or 2) so they’d all be heading purposefully for a location they could join up and defend.

They showed the road sign outside the prison saying that hitchhikers may be escaped inmates yet not one of them thought to scrawl a note on it saying they survived and where they were headed.

They just don’t seem to have any long term survival instincts, and they’re not taking easy steps that would allow them to thrive.

Abraham in the comic is Honest True good guy. ****Spoiler alert**** He and the group end up in an Honest True Safe Haven Not Like Woodbury Community; that’s probably Terminus on the show. Rick ends up leader of the Community after a Jerk resident, same M.O. as tv Carol’s husband, causes trouble and the leaders are killed. Abraham gets a girlfriend in the Community, and she encourages him to do a coup and take over from Rick. He ponders the idea but is killed off before this plot line develops when a zombie hoard attacks the Community. Since the tv show has its differences with the comic they may develop the potential coup plot line further, but that’s a long time from now if they do it. That I think will be Season 5 plot.

I’m glad Carol is back but I assume they’ll screw that up somehow. Isn’t the bunny murdering psycho the same person who was feeding the walkers? I always thought it was her that did it. Give the girl credit though, she can act.

Well, I do know that if I am holed up with any Hollyweird writers after the apocalypse, I will abandon, eat, sacrifice, or otherwise get rid of them first. Even a partially demolished prison would have had multiple defensive layers that a handful could hold off a militia, even with a tank, for weeks.

But they always have a weekend marathon about once every two months and start from the beginning. That’s how I got into it. I was bored one afternoon and got into it flipping channels. Season one was over and it was halfway into season 2.

Lanceman on February 17, 2014 at 5:07 PM

It’s also on Netflix between seasons. That is where I started watching…

For those who haven’t read the comics (the only ones I’ve ever read more than a page of), Abraham is a central character from here on out. Also in the comics, Tyresse was previously executed by the Governor in almost the same manner as Hershel outside the prison fence. So it’ll be interesting to see how 3 alpha males (Rick admittedly hasn’t been much of one lately) handle each other.

There are a number of main differences between the comics and the TV show, but for the most part, the show follows the comics which is currently in volume 20. 2 volumes are somewhat equivalent to a season.

One reason the show is so popular is because every Zombie Apocalypse story up to this one (except maybe 28 Days Later), portrays everyone being absorbed into the Zombie population. Romero’s movies portray survivors much later than the “event”, but they always end up being overcome by zombies.

Because this story continues to follow the same core group of survivors, it’s very compelling for Zombie Apocalypse “connoisseurs”.

Terminus was the original name of Atlanta. (And he map shown looked like Atlanta, too.)

I’ve not cared about any of the characters since last year, but I still enjoy the show. Maybe the fact that they’re all extendible does that, or maybe it’s the writing. I guess I still care about Darryl, but doubt I’d still riot if they offed him.

Actually, first scene of the series, when Rick is searching for gas, and the little girl (granted she’s a zombie) comes after him and he shoots her between the eyes. I said to myself “Whoa!” I hadn’t seen anything remotely like that on TV.

Also, Sophia, when she comes out of the barn.

Mitoch55 on February 17, 2014 at 5:57 PM

Interestingly, one of the producers/directors said that you can’t show a kid getting killed on screen, i.e., you see the gun fired and then the bullet hitting the kid but not both at the same time. I went back and looked at both those episodes. Since they edit it so closely, it sure looks like you are seeing both the gun fired and the kid hit in the same scene.

Did Herchel’s daughter the one whose nae after 5 seasons I still forget revert to her New Zealand tongue when she was reading her lines? Did they forget to cut this out? did I miss this. The scene by the bus.

Scoreboard44 on February 17, 2014 at 5:34 PM

Are you talking about Maggie? As far as I know, she’s a Philly girl who moved to the UK. When she’s out of character, she sounds Brit to me, not Kiwi. Maybe we’re talking about the wrong woman.

Last week when that zombie chased Carl into the bedroom, he looked like he was a super strong zombie. I went back and looked at it and noticed that he also smiled when he came into the room and thought he was going to have a delicious Carl Burger.

Abraham Ford became Rick’s right hand man after the death of Tyreese in the comic books, who actually died the way Hershel ended up dying on the show. (Hershel died shortly after, having given up on life and God after the death of his son during The Governor’s siege.)

I love it, I can’t help myself. The only thing I don’t like is that I got caught up after watching the first few seasons on Amazon one after the other and now I have to wait a week between episodes. More Walking Dead please! :)